Having recently been listed in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100, we were absolutely blown away to take away the social innovation award at the recent awards dinner. When Ben and I set out to build an innovative new agency model, never did we think we’d be picking up awards for changing how businesses operate.

The national awards dinner, held at The Brewery in London, hosted 240 guests, including the founders and CEOs of the 100 featured companies, alongside an array of esteemed guest speakers. The awards event also involved a number of special awards, including the social innovation award.

We were incredibly humbled by the win, which recognises Croud’s unique model, allowing more than 1,200 digital experts to work whenever and wherever they want, provided they deliver great work. This includes many people who could not otherwise work full-time, such as stay-at-home parents or full-time carers. To be honest, I’m humbled by a lot these days, whether it’s the passion and determination of our teams to drive the very best for Croud, or industry recognition by the likes of Google and The Drum.

The burgeoning gig economy

When we started Croud back in 2011, we set out with the mission of changing how agencies serve clients for the better, by making great talent accessible to all clients – whatever their size.

The cornerstone of this is our Croudie network. Today encompassing more than 1,200 digital experts in specialist fields ranging from Baidu advertising to UX design, the network is the beating heart of our business. It not only allows for business flexibility, but also recognised and facilitated the growing trend towards freelancing more than six years ago – well ahead of today’s burgeoning gig economy.

Harnessing talent and enabling flexible working

Croud is proud to be at the forefront of this movement, championing flexible working that not only allows highly skilled individuals to fit their work around other commitments, but also enables Croud and our clients to harness talent that would otherwise be wasted.

Our Croudie network incorporates fathers with family commitments who have headed up SEO for the likes of MoneySuperMarket and Apple, and stay-at-home mums who have previously run their own London agencies. Providing parents with a flexible solution they can fit around childcare and family is an issue particularly close to our heart; we recently ran a campaign with Easy Offices to help promote flexible working for parents.

One of our Croudies, Izam Hussain, recently wrote a moving blog about her experience of working with Croud. Izam’s son Ehsaan was born with a very rare condition which meant he required 24/7 care, prompting Izam to explore opportunities to work from home. With her experience in search marketing and the flexible nature of the Croud model, becoming a Croudie was the perfect fit, allowing Izam to work around her priority, her son, as well as remaining in the world of work and expanding her skill set.

A growing network

We are delighted to have won the Tech Track 100 social innovation award, and incredibly proud of the model we have built and the flexibility it affords highly skilled digital specialists who might otherwise struggle to commit to a 9-5 job. We’re excited to see what the future holds, as the Croudie network continues to grow across markets and disciplines.

I remember two years ago pitching the Croud model to the CMO of a global brand. Upon hearing about us, he asked “that’s a fantastic model but where’s the catch?” I replied, there isn’t one, we’ve reinvented how this works. To this day that CMO is one of Croud’s biggest clients and advocates; we run every one of their digital channels.

A big thank you to our in-house teams, our ever dependable and passionate Croudies, and our clients who have helped us grow this model.

If you would like to find out more about Croud, our services, or would like to join the network, get in touch.